Is Lisbon Europe’s coolest city right now?

We’ve fallen in love with our new home. We can’t wait to hit Lisbon this November 7-10 for Web Summit and introduce our network of world-leading founders, CEOs and exciting startups to an incredible city.

As Steve says, it’s time for the world to start paying attention to Lisbon’s charms.

“I’ve been coming to Lisbon for nearly a quarter of a century. I honestly don’t know what took the rest of the world so long. I can’t think of another city that more richly deserves the attention. Long may Lisbon’s moment last. Long may it see its extraordinary beauty mirrored in the eyes of others. Long may it rejoice, in its own modest way, in its own inimitable glow.”

Steve says that Lisbon’s character is unique, and that you’ll find none of “Berlin’s angst or Paris’s hauteur or Rome’s braggadocio” in the city. Expect instead to find “a modesty that borders on reticence, a wistful humour tinged with melancholy”.

Lisbon’s charm is something special

We’ve already talked to Caixa Capital’s Stephan Morais about the potential of the Portuguese capital. He told us that the city is at “seed stage” and that there is a real air of excitement in the place. Our own city guide found that Lisbon is really starting to recover from the shockwaves of the mid-noughties’ financial crisis.

Condé Nast Traveller echo these sentiments. Owing to political developments in the 20th and 21st centuries, the city was never taken over by big international brands. “The quirky, the independent, the family-run is still the norm, not yet the exception” in Lisbon.

Maybe our favourite section of the Condé Nast guide is the part that focuses on Lisbon’s diversity. The city really has it all.

“Suppose you were to pause for a moment to refresh yourself with a sip of ginjinha, a cherry liqueur, at one of the atmospheric, hole-in-the-wall bars around Rossio station that dispense the stuff (and nothing else) for about a euro a shot. Having greeted the nonagenarian regulars and sprightly bartender – a whippersnapper in his sixties – you might find yourself glancing across the street at the entrance to a hip new graphic-design studio or hi-tech start-up outfit.”